The Labor enquirer., 1887-05-21
ARRESTED!
Walter vrooman, the Boy
Orator, Jugged at AIle-
gheny.
FR EE SPEECH SUPPRESSED
News Of Brutal Outrage Perpetrated
by Doodle Politicians In
Pennsylvania.

Allegheny City cor. Workmen's Advocate.
We are now in the midst of the most
successful Socialist revival We have had
in this city for years. The agitation has
been confined in the past too much to the
Ger man population; we have no English
speaking section in the city. At the reg
ular meeting of our section last Sunday,
we decided to arrange some open air
meetings to be addressed by Walter w.
vrooman, of Kansas City, who is on his
way to New York. Tuesday night large
crowd assembled in front of the s. s.
Ma rket House, in response to the call and
a good deal of newspaper abuse. Frank
Ges sner, editor Of the Glass Worker, was
chosen president, and he introduced Mr..
Vrooman, who began with great energy
to expose, demolish and tear to pieces the
iniquitious and degrading institutions
that compose our present false civiliza-
tion. The large crowd was composed
largely Of curiosity-seekers, conservatives
and passers-by, but he opened up on them
with such thunderbolt of facts, oratory
and unanswerable arguments that the
crowd soon became enthusiastic, inter
rupting the speaker often with applause
and laughter. The proposed extradition
treaty with Russia and Ireland was ex-
posed with such force and emphasis that
thrill of shame passed through all who
prided themselves with citizenship in a
free country, home and refuge for the
down-trodden and oppressed of the world.
The absolute ridiculousness of the teach
ings of the popular political economists
and of the press, the preachers and the
politicians, were made plain in such a
laughable manner that even the squad of
policemen, sent to keep an eye on this
dangerous man from the West, were heard
smiling out loud.
The'speaker said that he was born with
in a hundred miles of the exact centre of
this American republic; that his ancestors
as far back as could be traced were Amer
leans. He said that he could not ''talk
Dutch, drink beer, nor eat Limburger
cheese" but that he was still Socialist.
These things have nothing to do with So
nj; fo1. -, @ko xloA
treats of social growth and development.
Socialist is an observer of tendencies.
He sees the direction in which the differ
ent currents and forces of modern society
are drifting. Black is black, white is
white, and two and two make four in Afri-
ca, Australia, Asia, Europe and America,
Just the same, and these laws that govern
social growth are not different in the
different places mentioned. And be-
cause these universal truths were
first observed by resident of Europe
they are none the less valuable to apply
to our affairs. We hear talk about for
eigners but we must remember that Jesus
Christ was not an Indian, that Calico,
Newton, Harvey and thousands of others,
whose discovery of truths, and our appli-
cation of those truths, have been of great
service to US, were foreigners. This twad-
die and nonsense given us workingmen by
empty-headed editors and preachers, who
eat roast beef, fried chicken and dough-
nuts three times a day, about foreigners
should prevent us no longer from investi-
eating that science and that truth most
necessary to our welfare.
After showing that the worker must
gain for himself that which he desires,
that "Who would be free, himself must
strike the blow" the meeting was adjourn
ed. Wednesday night the market square
was crowded, there being twice the num-
Der present that came the night before.
The railroad d>system, the land system, the
money system, the religious system, the
industrial system and political system,